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TV Cancelling
TV Cancelling is a technique in Gex 2 and 3, which involves activating the button of a TV without getting sucked into it. Normally, the game locks the controls when stepping on a TV button. Speedruns can use TV Cancelling in various ways. Both overworld and remote TVs inside the levels can be used for this. Methods Tail Whip TV Cancelling Initiating a tail whip before you press the TV button will allow you to keep moving until the animation is finished. At the last frame, another tail whip must be used to keep the effect for a new 9-frame window (visual frames). The frame window can get extended by lag or Gex being in the air. Slide TV Cancelling Found by Tigame with inspiration from Reece65536. By running towards a button and stopping right before you run on the button, you can slide onto the button. During the slide animation you can both jump and crouch even after activating the button, making this extremely useful for getting more distance during the TV Cancel, especially in levels where you can use a flying ability like Fairytales TV since you can glide a really long distance after the jump. Then there's a variation called Air Slide TV Cancelling. It works by sliding off a platform (over a TV button), the platform generally being the actual TV, and during the slide pressing the opposite direction of which you were just sliding towards at the right time to get another slide mid-air. This is very useful for buttons which are very hard or impossible to slide onto. During the slide animation you are also able to jump in the air, letting you be able to activate and jump off the button without touching the ground, making you jump/glide even bigger distances. In Gex 2, it is even possible to crouch in mid-air after sliding off, allowing you to safely land on the button for an extended amount of time without the game forcing you out. Death TV Cancelling If Gex activates a TVs button while losing his last paw, the TV will not suck him in, but the remote will still be obtained. The game will react to this like to any other death and place Gex at the start of the level or the last checkpoint. The difference between the two methods is that a Death TV Cancel can be done by just jumping or falling on the button. A Tail Whip TV Cancel can be used to kill Gex in the process by taking damage or hitting a death barrier, but it will always require performing at least one tail whip. Additionally, Tail Whip TV Cancelling can be used for other purposes that don't involve death warping. Infinite TV Cancelling An "infinite" TV Cancel is a type of TV Cancel that keeps the TV in its cancelled state until the player actively stops it. While it would technically be possible to use tail whips forever, the state still has to be maintained manually, therefore the definition of "infinite". However, all types of Infinite TV Cancels require at least one Tailwhip to set them up. There are different ways to perform an Infinite TV Cancel. One way is to TV Cancel into water or a climbable wall, as the swimming/climbing animation will cancel the TV as long as Gex stays in the water or on the wall. Another method is to go out of bounds in an area without death barriers, where Gex will just infinitely fall while the game occasionally resets his vertical position. The glitch can also be done with the camel in the level "Holy Moses" in Gex 3. In that case, you can ride the camel as long as you want, the effect will only stop by dismounting. In the NTSC PS1 version of Gex 3, it's also possible to use this trick with the donkey in the level "The Organ Trail". On N64 and on the PAL PS1 version, you won't be able to interact with the donkey anymore after activating the TV button. Uses Death Warping As described above, TV Cancelling can be used to obtain remotes without leaving the level. This is especially useful if the level has a good checkpoint location. Death warps without a checkpoint should have a decently fast setup to be useful in speedruns. For example, a TV Cancel into a death barrier is a very fast deathwarp. If Gex can only be killed by taking damage, there should be a quick way to take the initial hits. In Gex 2, death warping can also be incorporated into 100% routes, since you keep all collectibles after a death. Instant Exit Found by Tigame. When using Tail Whip TV Cancelling, it's possible to access the pause menu and select "exit" by pausing on the exact frame your tail whip animation ends (since the game treats that moment as Gex being idle) while still obtaining the remote. While the benefits in Gex 2 are usually minimal depending on the exit quote, the technique becomes more valuable in Gex 3, as it skips the congratulations jingle that plays after obtaining a remote. In the N64 version of Gex 3, it has the very useful side effect of skipping the overworld cutscenes. This trick does not work on the N64 version of Gex 2, because TV cancelling temporarily disables the start button in that version. Wrong Warping Found by P0rtalFTW (Gex 2) and Frogburt (Gex 3) When TV cancelling on the overworld, it is possible to enter other TVs that haven't been unlocked yet. The timing and positioning is very specific and requires practice. The most famous example of Wrong Warping is the trick that lets you enter Channel Z early in Gex 3, the biggest sequence break of the Gex games. Despite it's usefulness, Wrong Warping is limited by the mechanics of TVs and the level design.